


Tachibana Shimai

by AlexIsNotOkay



Category: citrus - サブロウタ | citrus - Saburouta
Genre: F/F, Incest, Sibling Incest, Sister Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 13:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12654831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsNotOkay/pseuds/AlexIsNotOkay
Summary: Sara's always been the most important person in the world to Nina. So when she comes home gushing about meeting her fated person yet again, why can't Nina just be happy for her?





	Tachibana Shimai

Nina Tachibana let out a sigh as she laid back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and chewing on the wooden stick still held between her teeth. The dango that had previously been skewered onto it had been gone for a while now, but Nina still hadn’t bothered to get up and actually throw the stick away. It was the dead of summer, and the ceiling fan that was leisurely spinning away above her was doing little to cool her off. Even in nothing more than shorts and tanktop, she still felt like she was overheating badly.

It was around four in the afternoon and, curiously, Nina hadn’t seen her sister all day. Sara had been gone before she had even woken up, and still hadn’t returned. Which struck Nina as a little bit odd, seeing as how Sara usually told her before she went anywhere. She knew that, despite looking so young, they were the same age (Sara was actually a few minutes older, for that matter), and that Sara could take care of herself just fine. Still, there was a part of Nina that couldn’t help but be just a little bit worried. Sara could be, for lack of a better word, carefree, and Nina couldn’t help but worry about what she might get up to without anyone there to keep an eye on her.

She was pulled from these thoughts, and from the worst of her worries, by the sound of the front door opening up elsewhere in their house, and by the sound of her sister’s familiar, singsong voice calling out to her. “Nina, I’m hooome!” The moment Nina heard that she finally found the energy to stand back up, jumping from her bed in an instant and zipping across the floor. She threw the door to her room open just a bit too quickly, peering down the hall towards her older, smaller sister.

“Where were you all day?” she asked. And, despite her best attempts not to make that sound like an accusation, the worry that she had been feeling still made its way into her voice. From the bright, vibrant smile that Sara was wearing on her face, though, and the joyful twinkle in her eyes, it seemed that she had had quite a good day. She practically skipped down the hall towards Nina, coming to stop right in front of her, hands folded behind her back.

“You’ll never guess what happened today!” she hummed cheerfully. “I’ve finally found them!”

“Them?” Nina repeated, quirking an eyebrow at her sister’s vague statement.

“Mhmm! Them!” Sara said. “My new fated person!” The moment Nina heard those words, she felt that familiar tugging sensation in the pit of her stomach. The same one that she had felt the first time Sara had told her about Mei Aihara, and the same one that she felt every single time they went through this. Sara certainly never seemed to have any shortage of fated people.

“Oh,” Nina replied, breaking eye contact with Sara to stare off above her head. She reached up to take hold of the dango skewer, rolling it between her fingers before she heard Sara speak up again.

“That’s all you have to say?” Sara asked, pouting up at her sister. “You don’t sound very excited!”

“Huh? Of course I’m excited!” Nina hastily protested, although not fast enough to prevent Sara from throwing herself against her. Nina suddenly found her sister’s arms wrapped around her waist, and her face pressed up against her stomach.

“Your onee’s finally found the person she’s meant to spend the rest of her life with! Aren’t you happy for me?” Sara insisted. Nina looked back down at her sister, whose face was mostly obscured by this point, blinking a few times before letting out a small sigh.

“Yeah,” she replied, letting her arm drop and wrap itself around Sara in return, while a bittersweet smile crossed over her face. “Of course I’m happy for you. Why don’t you tell me about them?”

* * *

“And the way her hair glimmered in the sunlight every time she moved, it was absolutely captivating! I’ve never seen such dark hair shimmer like that before!” Sara sighed out longingly. She had been talking about this new fated person of hers for the entirety of dinner, and honestly, Nina was somewhat impressed that she could go on for that long about someone she had met so fleetingly. Of course, Sara had never been the sort to half-ass her feelings. When she fell, she fell hard, and she fell fast.

Nina truly was happy to see her sister in such a good mood, and she was fully prepared to play any part that she could in helping Sara to pursue this new object of her affection, just as she had in the past. Despite that, though, there were still parts of her heart that held less than positive feelings towards this development, and not just because she was worried about Sara’s habit of becoming so enamored with people she barely even knew. Somewhere inside her, there was something that could only be described as jealousy as well.

“She sounds impressive,” Nina commented in between bites of her food. She was still avoiding looking straight at Sara as she spoke, making a habit of staring off at the walls, or the ceiling, or anything else, rather than looking her sister in the eyes. “Did you at least get a name this time?”

“Of course!” Sara replied, as if that weren’t a perfectly valid question to be asking based off of her track record. “Ayako! But she told me I can call her Aya-chan!”Another wistful sigh from Sara. Another pang of jealousy for Nina.

“It sounds like you two really get along well.” And suddenly, Nina was hit by another unfamiliar feeling: a fear that maybe this would actually work out. In the past, Sara’s pursuits of her fated people had always felt like little more than pipe dreams. Her brief affair with Mei Aihara was the furthest that she had ever made it in one of these endeavors, and even that had only lasted for a single prematurely-ended date.

Every time this had happened before, Nina had always been there for her sister as well, willing to throw herself behind whatever romantic quest Sara was currently on full-force, and to do whatever it took to make sure that she could have a chance with her fated person. But now, Nina was forced to confront a thought that had never actually crossed her mind before: what if the only reason she had ever done any of those things was because she knew that there had never been a chance in the first place? Had she ever truly believed that Sara had had a shot with any of the people that she had gone after? If she had, would Nina have been anywhere near as willing to travel to the ends of the Earth for the sake of those pursuits? And if all of this was really the case, could she actually continue to call herself a good sister?

Once more, her thoughts were interrupted by a rather sudden noise, this time the sound of dishes clattering and hands slamming against wood. As Nina looked back down she found that Sara was now leaning all the way across the table, looking up at her with puffed out cheeks and a stern expression on her face.

“Are you even listening to me, Nina? You look completely spaced out,” Sara huffed.

“Uh- Sorry,” Nina hastily replied, silently cursing herself for drawing this sort of attention. “I must’ve zoned out for a minute.”

“You’ve been acting strange ever since I came home,” Sara retorted, her expression softening now, turning to one of genuine concern for her sister instead. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” Nina replied, quickly shaking her head. “I must just be tired.” Before she could say anything else, though, she suddenly found a scolding finger getting pressed up into her face.

“You know that you can’t lie to me about this sort of thing!” As Nina looked back down at her sister, she found that Sara’s stern expression had returned once again. “I’m good at telling when something’s bothering you!” Not good enough, Nina thought to herself. She knew that flat out denial wouldn’t get here anywhere at this point, though, and that Sara wasn’t going to budge until she at least got _something_. Maybe half-truths would be enough to placate her.

“Well… I guess I just get worried about all of this sometimes,” Nina admitted, and the confused expression on Sara’s face encouraged her to keep talking. “I mean, all this stuff with your fated people. You fall for people that you barely even know, and you think that you’re meant to be with them, and then… I always have to worry that you’ll end up getting hurt at the end of it!”

“Nina,” Sara replied, leaning back to her own side of the table with a gentle smile on her face. “I know that things haven’t always worked out well with my fated people in the past.” It was reassuring to hear that Sara was at least self-aware enough to realize that, and it made Nina feel better for a fleeting moment, but that comfort disappeared just as quickly with the next thing that she said. “I know that this time will be different, though! I know that Aya-chan and I are meant to be together!”

“Dammit!” Nina snapped, frustration sneaking out before she had the chance to stop it. “Why is it always like this?? Why do you always go falling in love with complete strangers??”

“Hmm?” Sara replied, tilting her head curiously. “Do you think it would be better for me to fall for someone I already know?” It was at that point that Nina became aware of what she had just said, freezing in place on the opposite side of the table for a few seconds before hastily pulling herself to her feet.

“I- Forget it,” she mumbled out. “Forget I said anything.” She had barely made it two steps before she felt Sara’s arms latching around her waist again, though, holding her in place. And while her sister was light enough that she probably could have dragged her all the way down the hallway, it would at least slow her progress.

“Nina!” Sara huffed, only clinging even more tightly the harder her sister tried to break free. “Does it bother you when I fall in love like this?”

“Of course not!” Nina insisted, quickly shaking her head, causing her hair to swing about as she did.

“Then why are you so upset?” Sara asked. “What’s bothering you?”

“I told you to forget it!” Nina repeated. “I don’t wanna talk about this!” Sara fell silent for a few seconds at that point, pressing her face into her sister’s back as she contemplated the situation. When she spoke up again, her voice was much softer than before.

“Could it be that… You’re jealous?” When Nina heard those words, she felt her blood run cold. Her heart had either stopped beating or had started beating faster than it ever had in her life, and she wasn’t sure which. Her voice was caught in her throat, and it took her the longest time just to be able to squeak out a response.

“W-What? Of course n-”

“It would make sense,” Sara interrupted. “I mean… We’ve always been inseparable, ever since we were born, and we’ve always been important to each other. But if I finally find my fated person, and the two of us end up together… It would mean less time to spend with you.” Oh. _That_ was what she had meant. Of course it was. Why had Nina’s mind ever gone anywhere else?

“Y-Yeah…” Nina stammered out, forcing herself to speak through the tears that were suddenly running down her cheeks. “That’s- That’s exactly it.”

“I know you’re afraid,” Sara said, still clinging to Nina from behind. “But there’s nothing for you to worry about!” she promised. “You’ll always be the most important person in my life, more than any fated person! And even if some day Aya-chan and I get married, or move really far away, or start a family, I’ll still always find time for you, no matter how busy I am. I love you, Nina.”

“Thank you…” Nina whispered out, reaching up to touch her hand to Sara’s as tears dripped down onto her skin. “I love you too, onee…”

* * *

Nina had been in her room all night, shutting herself in after dinner and not coming out since. For a while she had been crying, but now she was at the point where she didn’t have any tears left to shed. Her only companions were the pillow hugged up against her chest, the quiet humming of the ceiling fan above her, and the somewhat comforting darkness now that the sun had set.

What kind of idiot was she, to feel this way about her own sister? Even Yuzu and Mei, they weren’t _actual_ sisters. They hadn’t met until they were both in high school. But Nina had known Sara her entire life. They had grown up together, lived together, been together from the moment they had been born. So why did she have to end up feeling this way about someone she knew she could never be with?

“Nina?” Her heart skipped a beat when she heard that voice outside her door, although at the moment Nina didn’t even have the energy to work herself into the panic that she otherwise might have.

“Yeah?” she managed to croak back.

“You’ve been in there a long time. I’m coming in.” It was clearly worded as a statement, rather than a request for permission, and before Nina had the chance to say anything else the door slid open, blinding her with the light from the hall. Sara frowned when she saw that her sister had apparently been in the dark this whole time, walking over towards the bed where Nina laid. Nina barely had time to pull herself into a slightly more dignified position before Sara dropped down next to her, staring up at her sister with an intense expression.

“Do you need something?” Nina asked, voice raspy from how much she had cried before. Sara didn’t respond right away, though, instead reaching out across the gap between them to grab hold of Nina’s hands. A look of surprise crossed Nina’s face as she looked back at her older sister, trying and failing to read what the expression on Sara’s face actually meant.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Sara insisted, giving Nina’s hands a small squeeze as she spoke. “It’s not good for us to keep secrets from each other!”

“Onee…” Nina murmured in response, breaking her eyes away and instead looking off to the side, focusing on the shadows cast on the wall by the two of them. “It’s nothing. I’m alright.”

“Well… Fine,” Sara huffed. “You don’t have to tell me anything. Because I realized something on my own anyway, and I wanted to talk to you about it.” Nina tensed up when she heard those words, positively terrified by what was going to come next. Had Sara seen through her lie earlier? She hadn’t exactly covered for herself well. But as great as the temptation was to simply distract from all of this, she needed to know what Sara was about to say, and so she forced herself to ask that question.

“Alright. What is it?”

“Well… I was thinking about what you said,” Sara started out. “About how I always fall for people that I barely even know, and about how I spend forever chasing them only for it to never work out in the end. And I started to think that maybe you’re right!” she declared. “Maybe my fated person is someone I’ve known this whole time, without even realizing it!” Suddenly, Nina could feel her heart beating faster, and she realized that her hands were shaking inside of Sara’s grip, cursing herself for not being able to stop it.

“Do you… Have any idea who it might be?” Nina asked. She knew that it was stupid to let herself get her hopes up like this, even for a moment, and yet she couldn’t stop herself all the same.

“I thought a lot about that too,” Sara replied. “And when I thought about it, I realized that there’s only one person who’s always been there for me, who’s always cared about me, who would do anything just to make me happy.”

“Onee…” Nina whispered out again. “What are you saying…?”

“I’m saying,” Sara replied, suddenly leaning in much closer until her face was right up against Nina’s, looking at her with wide, vibrant eyes. “Maybe you’re more than just my sister! Maybe you’re my fated person as well!”

“I-” Nina started to choke out, before realizing that she was at a loss for words once more. She had thought that she was out of tears, but apparently tears of overwhelming joy came from a different place than tears of unbearable sadness. She pulled her hands free from Sara’s, only to wrap her arms around the smaller girl and pull her as close as she could. “I love you, onee,” she managed to say. And for the first time in her life, she knew that Sara would truly understand how she meant it.

“I love you too, Nina,” Sara replied, smiling as she reached up to touch her fingers to her sister’s chin. Nina lifted her gaze as she felt Sara pushing her head up like that, although before she was able to ask, or even think to question, why it was happening, she found her answer. Without another word Sara had leaned in the rest of the way to close the gap between them, pressing their lips together. For a moment Nina was frozen in place, mind too blank to figure out how to react to this, and then suddenly she was kissing back with full force, tangling her fingers into Sara’s hair, falling backwards and pulling her sister down on top of her.

The kiss might have lasted for thirty seconds, or it might have lasted for thirty minutes. Nina wasn’t sure. All she knew was that by the time Sara finally pulled away she was gasping for breath, vision entirely blurred by the happy tears that she was crying. As she looked up she saw her sister’s beautiful face staring back down at her, illuminated by the light shining in through the door, wearing that same joyful smile that had set Nina’s heart aflutter so many times before.

“I’m sorry that it took me this long to realize,” Sara said softly.

“It’s alright,” Nina whispered back, wrapping her arms around Sara’s waist and pulling the smaller girl down against her. “I don’t care. I just care about now.”

“Hey,” Sara murmured, nuzzling into the crook of Nina’s neck as she spoke. “Would it be okay if I slept in here tonight? With you?”

“Yeah,” Nina quickly replied, nodding against Sara. “I would like that. I would like that a lot.”


End file.
